I agree. ZL is overrated and over priced. My Ultrafire UF-H2b is actually a better light than the ZL H-51 I owned.
I would argue that Zebralight has earned their reputation. You may consider them overpriced, but no other maker offers the range of features that the Zebralights do. I own 5 of them and feel they were worth every penny I've paid.
If you don't care about tint, size, number of levels, brightness of levels, durability (finish and functionally), excellent heatsinking, or efficiency then the Zebralights are of no interest to you.
Agreed. It´s a very refined mixture. I have only SC551. Planning to get second zebra some time.
Agreed but not on the durability...
Any ideas, why a 13 month old (yes, barely out of warranty...) H51 first loses all but H1 and hard flickering L2 modes, after that dies completely?
Not saying it was a bad light, on the contrary it was so good I have recommended to half-a-dozen friends. Now wondering, how soon will those burns their drivers?
Any suggestions or links?
Well I’d say its mostly bad luck. The driver has apparently failed. I haven’t read anything to lead me to believe its a common occurrence.
My claim of durability is based upon my own usage, not reputation. I keep my H51w strapped to the side of my lunchbox. That means it spends many hours a day getting bounced, banged and scraped around in the cabs of various trucks/equipment. I cannot even guess how many drops onto concrete it has suffered. The surprising thing is that it barely has any noticeable damage. I can say without a doubt that the annodizing is better than any other light I have.
Beyond the cosmetics, I have run the H51W on 14500s since day one. Many times I've run it on high until it shut off. However, it works flawlessly on any chemistry cell I throw at it.
Until i can break one, I'll call it durable. And until somebody can show me a light that does it better I'll buy Zebralights.
I am going to have to side with mitro on this one. I have moved from the "non-budget" lights to the "budget" area and the Zebralights are really the only lights I find my self looking back at. They are worth every penney. Of course this is just personal opinion and everyone has their own things they need in a flashlight.
Getting back to the Q50 and the subject of the OP. I think I killed the Q50 thread over at CPF. I questioned whether a certain Zebralight thread starter was shilling for ZL and nobody over there wanted to tackle these questions and the thread dropped like a rock. As evidenced by above paragraph I am a big ZL fan, but I hate being manipulated.
@ CheapThrills, that does suck. Only time will tell if there is an inherent problem with the H51 or you were just unlucky. I have a H51 I keep in the glove box of my work truck and have had no problems with it, but it doesn't get used and abused like my SC600. I don't think the ZLs are designed to repair when broken. A definite mark against them.
oops double post
I can assure everyone (and provide receipts) that all of mine were bought and paid for (in full) by me. If Zebralight would start sending me lights for free I'll rescind that receipts offer. :)
Surprisingly enough, I'm not really a fan of the SC600(w).
Ive had my sc600 a while now and use it mainly for work with the spark st6 460nw. both these lights give good runtime with the choice of the easily accessible levels.
I hope my above post didn't elicit this. You rock.
For the record, I didn't accuse any one over there, I just brought up some interesting things about a poster named James.
For those interested, google "pre-order q50".
Nah…I was just having some fun. Like I said, if ZL would like me to be a full blown shill, rather than just a over-zealous geek with his wallet in hand, they have my address. 
Ok, thanks.
Let´s home it was just a coincidence.
It was in use for year. Mainly used on H1 or H2 I would quess. At farm use, always on Eneloops, not much dropping, it looked really good IMO.
Does running it completely empty in your pocket stress the driver with Eneloops?
cheapthrills..try and deoxit the positive contact on your h51..i've heard this helps when issues arise..I love my zl's..have a h31, sc600 and ordering an h600 this week..by far my most used and favourite lights..
Cleaned the battery + and ZL +. Also cleaned the tailcap contact, have had some problems with it myself but it did not help.
Any pics about this gutted up anywhere?
Scratch off potting, try to re-solder some joints?
"Things I like in SC51: easy use, side clicky, enough modes yet simple to use.."
This light has 3 main levels (High, Medium, and Low). Each main level can be configured to one of its two sub-levels. The second sub-level of the High can be further configured to different brightness levels or strobes.
- Basic Operation
- Short click turns on the light to High or turns off the light.
- Long click (press and hold for about 0.6 seconds) turns on the light to Low.
- Advanced Operation and Configuration
- Short click turns on the light to High. Short click again quickly to cycle from High to Medium, and Low.
- Press and hold to cycle from Low to High, release to set. When press and hold, the light always cycle from Low to High regardless which level you are currently in.
- Double click to toggle and select between the two sub-levels for that main level. Sub-level selections (except the strobe) for the 3 main levels are memorized after the light is turned off and through battery changes.
- The second sub-level of the High can be configured after 6 double clicks. Double click (startng with the 7th) to cycle and select different brightness levels or strobes. Short click to turn off the light when finishing configurations. The selections for the second sub-level of the High are memorized after the light is turned off and through battery changes.
Simple to use?? 
Well, you can put it also this way:
You need only one click to access 50% of the levels (L-M-H). Just by clicking and holding a different time period...
Double-click to toggle for sub-level. It is very usable UI.
they are pretty simple to use..for as many modes as you get I don't think it could be any simpler..
I'm mostly kidding 
. Too many ppl swear by these lights, you can't all be wrong. I've not read of an unhappy owner, so I was going to buy one till I read the above instructions. I've no doubt in practice - and with practice - it's easy enough to master. Just not for me..
I bought a H51 that worked for all of one day before it started going into a really low low mode and not putting out any usable light. Paid $60+ for a light that didn’t last two days worth of use. In that two days, it heated up so much one time that i couldnt hold it and somehow got a big scratch on it even though I babied it. I have read many reports of bad ZLs and think they are a great idea but not ready for prime time yet. Maybe I just got a lemon but it was my first ZL and left a bad taste in my mouth.
My Ultrafire UF-H2b has already proven to be more durable and easier to operate than my ZL. It never gets accidentally turned on like my ZL and it has infinite modes as opposed to the 3-4 the ZL has. It also boasts a magnet in the tail which is handy. Tints seem the same but the ZL is brighter.